Needing greater length on their kickoffs, the Broncos promoted kicker Brandon McManus from their practice squad to 53-man roster Saturday. McManus will kick off in the Broncos’ game Sunday against the Buffalo Bills while Connor Barth will handle the field goal duties.

McManus’ promotion was expected. The surprise was that the Broncos made roster room for McManus by waiving rookie Isaiah Burse, who had handled all 53 of the team’s punt returns this season.

Burse, an undrafted returner/receiver out of Fresno State, returned 29 punts for a 7.2 yard average and had 24 fair catches.

The Broncos have listed receiver Emmanuel Sanders as the No. 2 punt returner on their depth chart. Wes Welker also has punt-return experience.

The move was made because McManus had one of the strongest touchback rates among NFL kickers this year and Barth is among the worst. McManus was the Broncos’ placekicker through the first 11 games but was waived because he was inconsistent with his field goals (9 of 13, 69.2 percent). The problem wasn’t his kickoffs as his 75 percent touchback rate (48 of 64) ranks fourth in the league, behind only Indianapolis’ Pat McAfee (80.8), Carolina’s Graham Gano (77.8) and Detroit’s Sam Martin (75.9), who kicks off for former Broncos kicker Matt Prater.

Barth was 5 for 5 in field goals but 0 of 8 in kickoff touchbacks in his Broncos’ debut last Sunday in frigid, windy conditions at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium. Since Barth entered the NFL in 2008, he ranks 47th out of 47 in kickoff touchback percentage (6.7, 11 of 164) among kickers without at least 100 kickoffs.

I like this move. McManus is young, (23) with a strong leg. His accuracy needs work, but good coaching and practice can improve that. The hidden bonus is that Mc handled not only KOs and FGs in college but also punting. In his final 2 years of college he averaged 45.8 and 45.2 yds/punt. That’s better than what Colquitt has done last year and so far this year. Could we have Mc doing ALL the kicking by next season? That would not only save money, but would also free up another valuable spot on the 53 man roster – and one on the 43 man game day roster… what a nice advantage that would be… as long as we kept a backup on the practice squad and had one of the other players be an emergency game day fill-in.

47YearBroncoFan

McManus will handle strictly kickoffs; in time, maybe FGs. Except for emergencies, no NFL team uses one specialist for placekicking and punting. NFL teams regard placekicking and punting as critical separate specialities worth separate paychecks.

bronco1st

I agree that the likelihood of the Broncos having anyone do all the kicking is slim to none – but NFL teams used to do it all the time… the way the game changes, it’s not unheard of for teams to bring back old ideas with new spins. I think Atlanta tried it a few years ago, unsuccessfully.

artie2

Although McManus is young, he has been kicking his whole career. I hope you are right that his accuracy will improve, because in four years kicking at Temple, he was at 72%, which is a touch better than his Denver stats.

bronco1st

Matt Prater was at 67% in his 4 years at Central Florida with his best in his sophomore year at 76%. Mc’s best year was his senior at 82%. Prater’s rookie year was 25% (although he only had 4 attempts) while Mc’s was 69% on 13 attempts, and yes, Prater was kicking his whole career before his rookie year too. So, your point is…?

artie2

My point is that ” I hope you are right that his accuracy will improve, ”
What is wrong with your ability to read?

bronco1st

Nothing is wrong with my “ability to read”. Kinda touchy aren’t you? YOU brought up his college stats, discounted his youth by saying “he has been kicking his whole career” (as if ALL NFL kickers don’t kick all 4 years in college) and finished by implying his average in college was just “a touch better than his Denver stats”. As Rogers would say “R-E-L-A-X”… my point is he’s a rookie and doing as well as some of our best kickers did in their rookie years…

rcade

Interesting info on the punting aspect and the future Great Post

2big_2fail

Two kickers weighing down an NFL roster is a personnel disaster. This isn’t college or high school ball.

Blue & Orange

…it’s not the apocalypse either.

The Mummy Speaks

Although I think short kick-offs are an invitation to disaster, I don’t like the idea of either Sanders or Welker returning punts – as both are one concussion away from being on the DL the rest of year.

Blue & Orange

I’m pretty sure that won’t happen.

Bill the Cat

So let me get this straight, the Broncos are going to risk top receivers so they can get some touchbacks on kick offs?

Brilliant.

In case you missed it that brilliant was sarcasm.

Ben Aubrey

Bolden will be the primary returner so no they are not risking their top WR. Only if Bolden gets hurt. Even then they have used Caldwell as a returner in the past.

Blue & Orange

Actually it would be nice to see Bolden on some punt returns. He has been doing very well at kick returns.

Old school

This was a great decision! You can’t let great teams start at the 30-35 yard line! The problem I have is letting Burse go! Should have let Caldwell go! Burse has had one turnover! Now we risk our only deep threat with Sanders on punt returns? Not too smart!

Jon brigham

That sucks. Let Caldwell go! I like Burse. He was fearless and could be trusted to make those critical fair catches. I love what Elway has done with this team but I think we can all agree that the Matt Prater release did not help this team get better.

Nicki Jhabvala is a Broncos beat writer for The Denver Post. She was previously the digital news editor for sports. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor. She also spent two years as a home page editor at the New York Times.